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Monday, February 23, 2015

And this is coming from a guy whose name contains over two dozen sabermetric acronyms.

The topic Sunday morning was whether Sox pitching coach Don Cooper’s methods were old school in this day and age of Sabermetrics.

“Sabermetrics, nyeh. Sounds like a lot of hot air,’’ Samardzija said, smiling. “I think there are definitely positive aspects to it. I think there is some information you can take from it that’s important. But ultimately from a player’s point of view, you want a ...

After Bronson, the same exact thing. We had starters in there roping our (clubhouse attendants), like, cattle-roping our clubbies. Guys on their computers, buying stuff, hanging out in the clubhouse. We had a guy with a year-and-a-half in the big leagues wandering around the clubhouse, hanging out. We had a closer in there sleeping until the seventh inning. We lose that veteran leadership, that’s what happens. You can’t have that ... it turns into a ...

Veteran lefthander Randy Choate and Matheny have discussed Choate’s occasional unhappiness last year that he wasn’t used as much for lefthander-on-lefthander specialty purposes, which basically why Choate was given a three-year contract before the 2013 season. He pitched more complete innings than he thought he would but some of them were in blowout games.

No real update in this report. I still can’t see a team going over $30 million. As Heyman notes, Sandoval got $95 million. On top of that fact, this is just bonus money. Moncada will still need to be paid.

He is probably worth such a lofty price, anyway, but the other big factor is that the signing team will have to pay a 100 percent tax, or something very close to that. So $50 million would really mean $100 million. That would be an extraordinary fee for a teenager considering established big ...

“I’m pretty confident that the best players are going to play. That’s the way it’s going to be, and I’m going to go out there and do the best that I can. ... I have something to prove every spring training, but I feel like this spring training is extra important for me to go out and prove myself and just get ready for a really good season, which I’m looking forward to.”

Steve and I were middle and high school classmates. As I jokingly commented on his Facebook status, “I can verify that Steve was the fastest kid in 7th grade. Unfortunately, that was his athletic peak.” I’m sure the contest will be amazing.

While there’s still no evidence James Shields received or rebuffed a rumored $110 million, five-year offer this winter, Shields did turn down an $80 million, four-year proposal from the Giants a few weeks before signing with the Padres for $75 million—$5 million less than the Giants’ bid—sources familiar with the negotiations said.

Max Pentecost recently underwent shoulder surgery in an operation that will delay the 2015 debut of the Toronto Blue Jays’ 2014 first rounder, sources told Sportsnet.

Dr. James Andrews performed the operation, a scope intended to clean out the shoulder joint of the top catching prospect’s throwing arm. Pentecost previously had a shoulder cleanup after the 2014 season, but the operation didn’t work as well as initially hoped.

Friday, February 20, 2015

I think about Tabler now because of an email sent by Tom Tango referencing a contradiction in my Strat-O-Matic post. On the one hand, I say I don’t like the horseshoes on Strat-O cards that reference a players ability to hit in the clutch (I have been told by several people that these were actually added to regulate a player’s RBI totals so that they somewhat mirror what happened during the season but it’s the same general thing). On the other hand, I say that I did ...

“Where I was wasn’t the same kind of thing you may have seen on TV or the movies,” Werth said. “That goes for the guys that were in there. The inmates were very supportive. The guards were very supportive. Nats Nation holds no bounds. It’s grown a lot since I got here, I’ll say that. It wasn’t so bad I’m like a different person. It was just an experience you went through. You get over it. You get through it.”

More than 11 months removed from Tommy John surgery that wiped out his 2014 season, Twins third-base prospect Miguel Sano remains on track to enjoy a normal big-league spring training.

“He’s doing pretty much everything,” said Brad Steil, Twins director of minor league operations. “I don’t know if (Twins trainers) are going to watch how much activity he has in the first few days. Sometimes guys get in there and air it out and overdo it.”

“I prefer to talk more on the level of intensity on a day-to-day basis, that grind,” Williams said. “Whenever we’ve had teams that understand that (grind), we’ve been in the mix. … We purposely went out and got those types that really want it. If you don’t have (them), nothing else matters.

“I made a lot of mistakes early in my career by throwing a lot more talent against the wall and looking good on paper, but not having the guys who really wanted it and would ...

One writer suggests that the Cleveland Americans be called the Submarines, because they are always on the bottom. The only objection is that the Cincinnati Reds might dispute this title.

...and elsewhere on the same page:

After being with a second-division team for several years Lajoie has got renewed ambition. He has got something worth while to work for in 1915.
...
“I can hardly wait for the time to go south,” said Lajoie. “It has been several years since I ...